Sybolism of "The Overcoat"

Symbolism- a literary device used frequently to contribute to the complexity of a work. In "The Overcoat", by Nikolay Gogol, uses symbolism throughout this entire work. He uses the old dressing gown to represent his old life, and the new overcoat to represent his new life. The symbols affect the plot and the characters.

The old dressing gown represents his old life. It is plain as is Akaky Akakievich. He never does anything even halfway exciting. Most of the time he sits around copying things to practice for his job, which is by coincidence being a copier. The old coat is boring and so is Akaky Akakievich. His agenda is normally get up and go to work and then come back home and go to bed. The old coat is about to fall apart as is Akaky Akakievich. However, he is about to fall apart mentally the coat is falling apart physically. Akaky Akakievich is going to fall apart mentally due to the extreme amounts of teasing he endures at work from all of his colleagues.

The new overcoat represents his new life. This new coat is shiny and polished up and makes people respond to Akaky Akakievich now. The way people respond to him is a warmer more comfortable way. Just as the coat is too him, warm and comfortable. Akaky's promotion may have to do with the fact that his new overcoat cost a lot of money and a more important position is cause for a more respectful look. The new overcoat may have been foreshadowing for him getting the new promotion. A loser like Akaky Akakievich with such a nice overcoat sounds a little bit "fishy." This may have implied that he was going to be moving up in the world, which eventually did happen.

The symbols affect the plot and some of the characters of this story. Plot is affected because at the beginning of the story it is about a boring, unpopular, lump of unattractiveness. This plot then quickly shifts to a story about a well-respected and fun loving man. This is a complete transformation of themes in a...

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First of all, there was a lot of inequality in the society of Akaky because people were judged according to their appearances and material belongings. [Subtopic] Gogol describes Akaky’s appearance which is used as a metaphor of his struggle fitting with the higher class people in the society. Furthermore, we see that he lived in a corrupted society where people were judged from the outside and not the inside. Therefore, Akaky was treated harshly everyday by his materialistic co-workers and was not respected. [Explanation subtopic] Gogol described Akaky as a “short person” who was “slightly bald in front” and he was not a very “remarkable clerk” (Gogol 394). Because Akaky was not attractive physically, there was not really a place for him among the higher class people....

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...Meanings and Indeterminacy in Gogol's "The Overcoat" Author(s): Victor Brombert Reviewed work(s): Source: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 135, No. 4 (Dec., 1991), pp. 569-575 Published by: American Philosophical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/986817 . Accessed: 25/01/2012 04:09
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